Rapid or contact feeder

[Alan and Anthea]

Hi

The weather here has still been very mixed and has not been suitable to do a full inspection. On what good days there have been the bees are flying well and bringing in pollen; we have been feeding fondant for the last 2 months which the bees have been taking well (carry out container of fondant lasts each hive about 2 weeks). hives still seem on the light side.
With the current fondant needing replaced we plan to move to 1:1 sugar solution; is it best to use a contact feeder or rapid feeder at this time of the year?
Advice appreciated.

Alan

 

[DanBee]

Contact feeder; you want it to be taken down slowly so that it is not packed around a small brood area, and it will suggest to the bees that a flow is starting so may stimulate colony increase.

 

[Midland Beek]

Never use a contact feeder - on a cold night the suction can be lost and the contents can glug out over your bees and kill them.

 

[itma]

Contact feeder; you want it to be taken down slowly so that it is not packed around a small brood area, and it will suggest to the bees that a flow is starting so may stimulate colony increase.

While I'd happily go along with Danbee's point that you don't necessarily want to feed them fast, I doubt the feeder type matters much.

You certainly wouldn't be thinking of a big Miller or Ashforth feeder as your first choice. (OK it might be the only choice for some bee-farmers ...)
But I doubt there's much difference between the speed that the bees would take feed from a typical contact feeder and one of the common 4-pint round rapids.
Where there would probably be a difference in favour of the contact, would be if the weather turned colder, so that the bees were reluctant to go up into the rapid.
However, I find it much easier to check and refill the small rapid, and there's no risk of a flood if the 'lid' should be dislodged.
So its a small rapid for me - but I wouldn't say that a contact was wrong.

 

[starflex]

Never use a contact feeder - on a cold night the suction can be lost and the contents can glug out over your bees and kill them.

Would you please expand, I might be missing something obvious, but I cannot see your reasoning.

 

[PBee]

When you invert the contact feeder it creates a vacuum above the syrup. With sharp temperature changes there are changes in pressure in the feeder and syrup is forced out. If you have the hive tilted slightly forward and offset the feeder so the feeder mesh is forward of the feed hole then any syrup escaping will flow to the front of the crownboard and not directly onto the cluster. Also if the area around and above the feeder is filled with insulation the temperature changes will be reduced.

 

[stephenpug]

I have just removed two large lumps of fondant which the bees are no longer using but I don't want to throw them away is it possible to melt them in hot water to make a syrup feed out of them ??

 

[Ely]

Cling film it up and save it for later if you turn it into to syrup it may ferment and be useless before it is needed again. Stored as fondant is fine for a long time

 

[dutney]

Cling film it up and save it for later if you turn it into to syrup it may ferment and be useless before it is needed again. Stored as fondant is fine for a long time

How long will fondant keep for? Should I freeze it?

 

[Ely]

It would probably last until next season if it is wrapped up air tight. Should be fine at room temp

The fondant I used this year was from 2 seasons ago

 

[dutney]

It would probably last until next season if it is wrapped up air tight. Should be fine at room temp

The fondant I used this year was from 2 seasons ago

Thanks Ely.

I bought 12.5 kg baker's fondant and divided it into approx half kilo zip-lock sandwich bags. That was a mission on its own!

I shared it with another new beekeeper from my local BKA but still have loads left. I was worried it would go to waste.

 

[stephenpug]

Too impatient for a answer lol I have just put it into the hot water it is melting as I type
Note to myself be more patient

 

[davnig]

recent thread has some advice, melting fondant

 

[stephenpug]

recent thread has some advice, melting fondant

Thanks I have just read it ,,, so I might be alright with my dissolved fondant

 

[Ely]

Could always reduce it back down to fondant
(Not sure that is possible)
Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BobsBees]

Could always reduce it back down to fondant
(Not sure that is possible)
Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

I use the plastic takeaway so when my fondant goes hard, if its not too dirty, you can with moist fingers get it back to where it started after just a few mins working it, certainly not any water added. Not much waste here. I bought 1 ton from Bako in autumn 2011. Still have some left it worked out at 10.50 per 12.5 Kg pack. Bit different now!
Bob.

 

[Alan and Anthea]

Thanks to all the replies on feeder type and like a lot of things in beekeeping different beeks have diferent ways of achieving the same goal.
We plan to put a rapid feeder on one hive and a contact on another and see how quick they take it, for us the rapid is much easier to work with but we dont want to fill up the brood box with sugar stores and end up with an early swarm.
Hopefully the weather will soon improve and we can get into the hive and assess the situation.
Thanks again
Alan

 

[richardbees]

I bought 1 ton from Bako

Thanks Bob, that puts things in perspective as i buy the 12.5kg pack and carry it home from their Colliers Wood depot on the Underground.

 

[peterbees]

I'm using frame feeders on my hives. They fit in right alongside the occupied frames. I love them.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don't like them.
I bought a P a y n e s poly nuc with a built in frame feeder and no matter what I did......changed the float/painted the inside with sand/filled the container with plastic netting/poly beads.....I got lots of dead bees.
I previously bought a M.a.i.s.m.o.r.e frame feeder and it filled up with carcases.....you'd think that would have learned me!!!!!